There has never been such a high rate of deforestation. Aproximately 17% has destryoed the native vegetation in Brazil. According to the Brazilian researchers, in 45 years all the vegetation will be lost. Every year approximatly 150,000 square Km of forests are cleared, approxmaitly the size of the United Kingdom.
The timber trade is a multi million dollar business. The human population has relied on trees, and the products which are produced from trees, since man was able to cut trees down. The three most popular uses for trees are, furniture creation, construction, and paper. Since wood is used constantly and is required at some point during the day, it is obvious to see why the timber trade is as large as it is.
Reasons for deforestation aroud the world:
Material for construction, paper, and furniture.
Clearing land for use in subsistance farming and cattle ranching.
Forests are also cleared for mining and other industrial purposes.
The tropical rainforest biome accounts for over half of the worlds species of trees, plants, aphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. Deforestation is causing many species, which depend on the rainforest for shelter, to lose their habitat. Already many species, which call the rainforest home, are on the endangered list.
Trees from tropical rainforests provide the ingredients for over 45% of all precription drugs in the United States. It is also believed that the medicine which will provide the cure for cancer will come from a tropical rainforest. Losing tropical rainforests around the world would not only hurt the enviroment we live in; it will potentially have damaging affects on the human population and health.
When trees are cut down the roots die or are ripped up. Roots anchor the soil around the tree supporting the soil and preventing it from eroding during a storm. The water from the rain carries the soil leaving the exposed land with vey little nutrients to support further vegatative growth. Humans are experiencing the effects of deforestation and erosion which follows already. In California houses are falling off of cliffs due to the lack of suppot for the soil. Throughout the world mudslides, which occur after heavy rainfall, are increasing in size and frequency, mostly due to the lack of vegitation anchoring soil.
"Costa Rica loses about 860 million tons of valuable topsoil every year, while the Great Red Island, Madagascar, loses so much soil to erosion (400 tons/ha) that its rivers run blood-red, staining the surrounding Indian Ocean."-Butler, Rhett. "Erosion and it's Effects." Mongabay. 25 Feb 2008 <http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0903.htm>.
Environmentalists believe that by 2010 the world will need to cope with about 50 million refugees who will leave their homelands due to the effects of deforestation and a lack of quality grazing and farmland.
Current Situation of Deforestation
There has never been such a high rate of deforestation. Aproximately 17% has destryoed the native vegetation in Brazil. According to the Brazilian researchers, in 45 years all the vegetation will be lost. Every year approximatly 150,000 square Km of forests are cleared, approxmaitly the size of the United Kingdom.
The timber trade is a multi million dollar business. The human population has relied on trees, and the products which are produced from trees, since man was able to cut trees down. The three most popular uses for trees are, furniture creation, construction, and paper. Since wood is used constantly and is required at some point during the day, it is obvious to see why the timber trade is as large as it is.
Reasons for deforestation aroud the world:
The tropical rainforest biome accounts for over half of the worlds species of trees, plants, aphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. Deforestation is causing many species, which depend on the rainforest for shelter, to lose their habitat. Already many species, which call the rainforest home, are on the endangered list.
Trees from tropical rainforests provide the ingredients for over 45% of all precription drugs in the United States. It is also believed that the medicine which will provide the cure for cancer will come from a tropical rainforest. Losing tropical rainforests around the world would not only hurt the enviroment we live in; it will potentially have damaging affects on the human population and health.
When trees are cut down the roots die or are ripped up. Roots anchor the soil around the tree supporting the soil and preventing it from eroding during a storm. The water from the rain carries the soil leaving the exposed land with vey little nutrients to support further vegatative growth. Humans are experiencing the effects of deforestation and erosion which follows already. In California houses are falling off of cliffs due to the lack of suppot for the soil. Throughout the world mudslides, which occur after heavy rainfall, are increasing in size and frequency, mostly due to the lack of vegitation anchoring soil.
Environmentalists believe that by 2010 the world will need to cope with about 50 million refugees who will leave their homelands due to the effects of deforestation and a lack of quality grazing and farmland.